(photography by Alison Eden Copeland l-r : David Petro, Patrick Travis, Mark Tonucci, Brandon Bennett Crowe)
Over the past 4 years, you could make a case for the start and ongoing middle of what feels like a new golden age for Austin rock’n’roll. I could drop a bunch of names, some of whom you’d recognize, some of whom you wouldn’t. A few have recorded for this label. But that’s not really the point. The standard trajectory from initial rehearsal to first recordings to moment of global exposure is usually in the 6-24 month range. Not in this case.
As you’ll see below, it’s taken The Gospel Truth a little longer to become a fully realized thing. And that’s not to say they’re presently all about cool precision, either. Right now, they’re alternately brooding & explosive in manner that runs contrary to this city’s party vibe and have emerged as one of the town’s top live bands in the process. Not only is it hard to come up with a regional precedent for The Gospel Truth, it’s almost as tough to ID an album as out of time as ‘A Lonely Man Does Foolish Things’. The Flesh Eaters’ ‘A Minute To Pray, A Second To Die’ and the Toiling Midgets’ ‘Sea Of Unrest’ come to mind, but that pair stood out wildly in ’81 and ’82, too. The tie that binds all 3 full-lengths is a purposeful, unusually deft ensemble fronted by a singer who comes out of his shell in the boldest way when you put a microphone in his hand (more on him later)
